Top Ten Comic Books of 2009

It’s time for the first annual Hobbit Hole Top Ten Comics of the year. Eight of the ten are Marvel books naturally and HALF of those are written by the same guy! That guy being the bald-man himself Brian Michael Bendis. So lets get started as I have only 42 minutes before 2010 arrives.

My tenth favorite series of 2009 is Darkhorse’s Conan. Darkhorse is doing a GREAT job with all the Robert E. Howard properties. It’s been great all the way through. Many were worried about what would happen with this series after writer Kurt Busiek left. Tim Truman has done a good job filling those BIG shoes. The art by Tomás Giorello is terrific and gives the book a real Frazetta-Fantasy feel. Another highlight of 2009 was the arc by the legendary artist Richard Corben. FANTASTIC.

Number nine is Marvel’s Thor series. We waited and waited and waited for Thor to return after it was canceled a few years ago. With the superb writing of J. Michael Straczynski the wait was definitely worth it. Too bad with the upcoming Siege universe wide event Straczynski is gone from the book and Marvel it seems. I’m still not convinced his costume needed a makeover (does the god of thunder really need chain-mail?) but I can live with it.

Number eight is Wolverine Weapon X. With the “main” Wolverine title taken over by Daken “the Dark Wolverine” for many fans Jason Aaron is writing the “real” flagship Wolverine book right here. This has been a near perfect take on the character and it doesn’t hurt having artist Ron Garney doing what is arguably his best work ever.

Number seven is Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Season Eight). Buffy creator Joss Whedon continued the TV show as a comicbook and it is an absolute joy to read. With great art by Georges Jeanty and a rotating crew of excellent writers (mostly from the show) this just couldn’t be any better.

Matt Fraction’s Iron Man has been a consistent must read all year. This book featuring the wonderful art of Salvador Larroca would be perfect to show a non-comic reader as an example of just how GREAT a super-hero comic can be.

Super-star writer Brian Michael Bendis teams up with former Alias artist Alex Maleev for this darkly moody super-hero sci-fi spy thriller. It just doesn’t get much better than this!

I was prepared to hate this book, I really was. I HATE the idea of these twisted psychos using the names of my beloved Avengers. Bullseye is NOT Hawkeye. Venom is NOT Spider-Man! And yet I can’t stop reading this stuff. It’s been fun and fascinating watching Norman Osborn’s madness play out, but surely this series HAS to end shortly after Siege completes?

Ultimate Spider-Man continues to entertain despite the crazy “restructuring” of the Ultimate Universe. I thought I might actually drop the book after Mark Bagley left. But I kept reading and was glad for it. It’s funny, charming and action-packed. It quite simply NEVER disappoints.

Brian Michael Bendis tore the Avengers apart and remade them using a combination of his own personal favorites (Luke Cage, Spider-Woman) and Marvel Mainstream heavy hitters (Spider-Man, Wolverine)…and somehow it just worked. Now 60+ issues later it STILL works. I LOVE this book.

It’s hard to believe a Captain America comic could be this intriguing without Steve Rogers….and for quite a while there it had NO Captain America either! But this book has been a non-stop action thriller thanks to the fantastic writing and twisted plots of writer Ed Brubaker.

So there it is -my Top Ten of 2009. Agree? Disagree? Make your case by hitting the comment link.